Rodney King Is Awarded $3.8 Million

By SETH MYDANS,

Published: April 20, 1994

LOS ANGELES, April 19—
A jury told the City of Los Angeles today to pay Rodney G. King $3.8 million in damages in compensation for his beating by police officers in 1991.

In the next phase of Mr. King's civil suit, to begin immediately, the jury will hear more testimony to determine whether any of 14 current and former police officers who were at the scene are liable for punitive damages in addition to today's award.

The award -- $3,816,535.45 -- was three times the $1.25 million the city had offered to pay Mr. King before the trial when it accepted liability for the beating. But it was far less than the $9.5 million Mr. King had sought. In closing arguments last week, his lawyer raised the ante and asked for $15 million.

"We think that this is a satisfactory result," City Attorney James K. Hahn said today, indicating that the city is unlikely to appeal the outcome. It had conceded liability in the beating in an effort to resolve the case and avoid a review of police procedures.

Mr. King's lawyer, Milton C. Grimes, said his client was "somewhat pleased" with the verdict. The lawyer said he would fight to win more money in the second phase of the trial. 'The Case Is Not Over'

"I told him what the verdict was," Mr. Grimes said of Mr. King. "He was somewhat pleased with the verdict, and I told him we have not finished. He understood that. The case is not over."

Joseph Duff, who heads the local chapter of the N.A.A.C.P., also said the award seemed fair. "I think that passes the test of reasonableness," he said. "It is a measure of the depth of pain and suffering and the understanding that there is a permanent injury to him."

An unemployed construction worker at the time of the beating, Mr. King, now 29, has not worked in three years. Experts at the trial estimated his lost earnings from his injuries at $500,000 to $1 million over his lifetime.

The compensatory damages from the city are intended to cover lost earnings and expenses for treatment of broken bones and neurological and psychological damage. Mr. King's lawyer has said his client will never be able to work again.

Legal experts said Mr. Grimes might receive about one-third of the amount awarded, although the details of his arrangement with Mr. King have not been made public. Mr. King's previous lawyer, Stephen Lerman, is reportedly also owed several hundred thousand dollars.

The defendants in the second phase of the trial include the four police officers who were tried twice for the beating, in which Mr. King was repeatedly struck with a police baton, kicked and shocked with a stun gun.

In a state trial in 1992, the officers' acquittal on assault charges promoted a riot that took more than 50 lives. In a Federal trial last year, two of the officers -- Stacey C. Koon and Laurence M. Powell -- were convicted of violating Mr. King's civil rights and are now serving 30-month prison terms.

After the verdict, the city was quiet today, with the April 1992 riot a fading memory. Vacant lots now mark the sites of many burned buildings in South-Central Los Angeles, the neighborhood most damaged by the riots. Rebuild L.A., the consortium formed to help put the area back on its feet, has been substantially reduced in size after only limited success, and crime, poverty and gang conflicts continue as before.

Since the beating, Mr. King has been arrested several times on accusations of drunken driving and spousal abuse and has been released each time. The police also said he had attacked an undercover officer who approached him as he was sitting in a car with a transvestite prostitute.

Witnesses at the trial described him as still shaken by his beating and its aftermath, fearful in the streets and shying away from the police.

Mr. King himself gave his most graphic account of the beating. "I felt like I had been raped," he testified. "I felt like I had lost half of my face."

He also asserted that his assailants yelled racial epithets, a point disputed in all the trials stemming from the beating. His lawyers portrayed him as a victim of racism, beaten by the white officers because he is black.

In an effort to limit damages, the city focused on Mr. King's character before the beating, including his imprisonment for robbery and troubles with alcohol and drugs.

In the second phase of Mr. King's suit, for punitive damages, the legal travails resume for the police officers who were tried in the beating.

The two convicted officers, Mr. Powell and Mr. Koon, were dismissed from the force are serving their time in a prison camp in Dublin, Calif.